Europe Holiday 2015 - Day Five

Up at 6 am for breakfast on the balcony before walking up to Pražský Hrad (Prague Castle). Saw a lady driving with her exhaust pipe dragging which fell of at the next set of traffic lights. Karluv Most (Charles Bridge) didn't have many tourists and none of the art sellers at 8 am. It's a little more attractive because of that.

Nice morning to take wedding photos. Only Asians were doing this.

Nice view of Pražský Hrad early in the day

Best time to see Karluv Most

Not busy in town just past the bridge either

Steep walk up to the castle and we arrive at 8:30 which was half an hour before any of the buildings were open to tourists. Bought tickets, first in the door actually, when they opened at nine o'clock. St Vitus Cathedral was closed for a service until 12 pm so we toured St George's Basilica. Delightful building. And we were first tourists to enter so it was not crowded and quiet.

Castle was undergoing some renovations

Inside St George's Basilica

Looking up at St Vitus Cathedral

Had a gander a the castle building and the story behind it. A few old relics but the great hall was fab. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos inside. Looked at the Golden Lane with some maintained houses, little shops, armour and weaponry on display along with a torture room. The Rosenberg Palace wasn't worth viewing.

Small shops on the Golden Lane

Some armoury on display in the Golden Mile

The lineup, 40 minutes before opening to the public, for St Vitus Cathedral was huge. Went looking for somewhere to eat and drink. Left the palace grounds and crossed the road to Garden Cafe - too hot, too expensive and staff too idle. Across the road was Starbucks that Miky had read about and she was really keen to try. Nice sandwiches, tasty coffee (so she said) and nearly full of Koreans taking the best spots. Oh, and numerous screaming babies too.

Had lunch outside the castle. Top view from atop Starbucks.

Back to the castle and I returned the audio guide before joining Miky for a look inside St Vitus Cathedral. Magnificent. Gorgeous stained glass windows and displays. Awesome. Holiday highlight.

Stained glass window inside St Vitus Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Splendid pulpit

Extraordinary stained glass windows

Garden walk was pretty boring. Except for an American tourist getting told off by a well-armed guard for sitting on the grass.

Keep OFF the grass!

In the town below we bought a gelato to eat. Great chance to wash my face as it was a hot day. Quite a few paddle boats out on the river. Pasty Brits soaking up the sun?

Soaking up the sun on the Vltava River

After a short rest at the apartment we went to the Old Town and found the tourist info, finally. Did lots of shopping - dishes and clothes before having dinner. Nice walk around the streets in the evening. Concert for the 600th anniversary of Jan Hus in the Old Town Square but it was just finishing. Had a chocolate waffle was as tasty as Nutella on cardboard.

Evening view of Karluv Most and Pražský hrad

Europe Holiday 2015 - Day Three

Slept well, for about five and a half hours. Went shopping at Tesco. Prices are good. Can read a bit of Czech. Miky got an Americano coffee at Costa Coffee and was happy to try to order in Czech. Had a breakfast of bread, cheese, meat and hot drinks on the balcony. So relaxing.

Hearty breakfast

Charles Bridge - a first look

Walked down to the river and across Karluv Most. Getting quite busy but not too crowded. Another tourist offered to take our photo. He was very impressed with the quality of photos that my phone took. I was very unimpressed that of the four photos he took he managed to get his finger in each one.

Us a Charles Bridge

Visited a few jewelry shops looking at garnet stones. "Traditional Czech," is the phrase that popped up everywhere we went. The shop assistant in the second shop we went to got quite annoyed when we didn't buy anything. Spent ages in a third shop which was offering up to 60% off and they even grabbed some designs from their second shop when we couldn't settle on anything. They too were annoyed when none of the pendants were to our liking but we did buy a ring from them. The assistant was Russian.

Shopping again at Tesco for drinking water, the mineral water kind. Dropped our gear off at the apartment and walked around to find a local place to eat. Sat in a beer garden at a restaurant and had beef goulash with bread dumplings and fresh onion and roast pork with potato dumplings and red sauerkraut. Miky enjoyed the beer, which cost only 19 koruny (~$1.05 for 300 mL) and salad.

Cheap, good beer. So I hear.

Nice Czech lunch

Had a nap for an hour and a half afterwards before we headed to the Old Town. Looked for the tourist info on Wenceslas Square but missed it. Thinking that the banks would be closed on Saturday we went to a Change / Western Union shop. Exchange rate was OK b
ut everything was written in Russian and English, not Czech, curiously. Changed $500 but noticed the commission was 1,749 crowns and I only received 7,041. Roughly 20% commission. Annoyed, Miky decided to head back in to get our money back. Had to wait for a young girl with skin problems and a big dog who was changing Australian dollars and had to fill in paperwork (we didn't) - she seemed to speak Russian and I think that she was a prostitute. Was quite surprised when the woman in the shop refunded our money. The fine print said commission was 19.9%. She hadn't mentioned that to me when she quoted the rate. Happy with that outcome.

Beware of any place affiliated with Western Union

Other shops were charging the same rate of commission or even 27%. Found a place offering no commission and his rate was 18.05/AUD which was even better than the Russian. I received 9,025 crowns, as the guy offered, and when I asked him if that was what he would pay me he said, "Of course, I want you to come back."

Looking for Havel Market. Miky asked some guy on the street who was carrying his shopping - he was an Aussie. Didn't know himself but was interested to know. Ha ha. I always get asked for directions when I'm in a foreign country. We had to ask plenty of people before we found it and they were closing for the day when we arrived.

Havel Market just closing for the day

Palladium shopping centre - clothing, shoes, tea light cover, Mongolian BBQ for dinner. Just the usual things in downtown Prague. Food was cheap at 417 crowns for two meals and rice which equated to $23.

Night time walk through the Old Town at 10pm. The streets were so busy and we hit the souvenir shops. Back past Karluv Most and Prazsky Hrad. Arrived home around 11:20. Fireworks at the time. Did notice that most convenience stores or booths are run by Chinese.

Prague's streets are beautiful at night

Wonderful in fact

And Tyn Church at the Old Town Square is gorgeous

One last look at Charles Bridge and the Castle before bed